Tag Archive: sodium requirements

The question of the week for me. Since several people asked me about this I thought I’d talk about it on my blog. Most people over 40 are concerned about their sodium intake. So they are watching their salt consumption closely. But sometimes those darn milligrams and grams can get so confusing. So here is a tip on how to calculate and know without a doubt whether you can “eat or drink” that food.

The rule is a healthy person can eat between 3 – 4 grams (3000 – 4000 mg) of sodium/salt a day in their diet. Someone on a restricted sodium diet should not have more than 2 grams (2000 mg) of sodium/salt in their diet.

There are 1000 mg in 1 gram of salt. If food has, for instance, 595 mg of sodium for 1 serving that means it doesn’t even have 1 gram of salt but approximately 1/2 a gram of salt. If an item of food had 2100 mg of sodium for 1 serving that means it has 2 grams of salt.

Lets say you pick up a V8, a vegetable juice. The reason you picked it is to get a serving of veggies for that day but you are concerned about the salt. Well, one 8 oz serving has 420 mg in it. That may sound high to you but think about this ….do you add salt to any of your foods?….. so maybe this is the only added salt you get. If so enjoy the V8 and ‘feel fabulous’ that you got another serving of veggies. If you do add salt to your food than maybe pick up a salt free version of it. As you eat thru out the day think of the whole picture of what you eat in a day. I think you will be surprized at what you discover.